Super typhoon Haiyan slams into Philippines, at least three dead

[t_co]

Super typhoon Haiyan slams into Philippines, at least three dead | Reuters

(Reuters) - The strongest typhoon in the world this year and possibly the most powerful ever to hit land smashed into the Philippines on Friday, forcing more than a million people to flee, flooding villages and raising fears of widespread casualties.

Haiyan, a category-5 super typhoon, scoured the northern tip of Cebu province and headed northwest towards Boracay island, both tourist destinations, after lashing the central islands of Leyte and Samar with 275-kph (170 mph) wind gusts and 5-6 meter (15-19 ft) waves.

At least three people were killed and seven injured, national disaster agency spokesman Rey Balido told reporters in Manila. The death toll could rise as more reports arrive.

"The humanitarian impact of Haiyan threatens to be colossal," said Patrick Fuller, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Power and communications in the three large islands of Samar, Leyte and Bohol were almost completely down but authorities promised to restore them within 24 hours.

Officials warned that more than 12 million people were at risk, including residents of Cebu City, which has a population of about 2.5 million, and areas still reeling from a deadly 2011 storm and a 7.2-magnitude quake last month.

"The super typhoon likely made landfall with winds near 195 mph. This makes Haiyan the strongest tropical cyclone on record to make landfall," said Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at U.S.-based Weather Underground.

About a million people took shelter in 29 provinces, after President Benigno Aquino appealed to people in Haiyan's path to leave vulnerable areas, such as river banks, coastal villages and mountain slopes.

"Our school is now packed with evacuees," an elementary school teacher in Southern Leyte, who gave her name only as Feliza, told a radio station. Leyte and Southern Leyte are about 630 km (390 miles) southeast of Manila.

Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla reported a 3-metre (10-ft) flood in one village in Leyte. "There is zero communication at the moment," he told ANC television.

NO POWER, LANDSLIDES

"Roads are still impassable. There are some landslides," said Roger Mercado, governor of Southern Leyte province.

More than 100 coastal homes were flattened, while landslides destroyed houses in the hills, but his province had seen no casualties yet, he told Reuters.

In Samar province, links with some towns and villages had been cut, officials said.

"The whole province has no power," Samar Governor Sharee Tan told Reuters by telephone. Fallen trees, toppled electric poles and other debris blocked roads, she said.

Authorities suspended ferry services and fishing and shut 13 airports. Nearly 450 domestic, and eight international, flights were suspended.

Schools, offices and shops in the central regions were shut, with hospitals, soldiers and emergency workers preparing rescue efforts. Twenty navy ships and military aircraft including three C-130 cargo planes and helicopters were on standby.

"Power is off all across the island and the streets are deserted," said Lionel Dosdosa, an International Organization for Migration coordinator on Bohol island, the epicenter of an October 15 earthquake that killed 222 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. He said power was off and streets were deserted.

At the Sandcastles Beach Resort in Boracay, guests stayed indoors. "The beach is abandoned. The winds are whistling unceasingly, so we secured our homes and the resort," Jenelyn Castro, one of the resort's staff, said by telephone.

The state weather bureau said Haiyan was expected to move past the Philippines on Saturday and out over the South China Sea, where it could strengthen even further and hit Vietnam.

Meteorologists in Vietnam said it could be the country's strongest storm ever. Evacuations had already begun, the state-run Voice of Vietnam radio said.

The world's strongest recorded typhoon, cyclone or hurricane to make landfall was Hurricane Camille in 1969, which hit the southern U.S. state of Mississippi with 305 kph (190 mph) winds, said Weather Underground's Masters.

An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year.

Last year, Typhoon Bopha flattened three towns on Mindanao, killed 1,100 people and caused damages of more than $1 billion.

Haiyan is the second category 5 typhoon to hit the Philippines this year after Typhoon Usagi in September.

Our thoughts go out to the afflicted.

 

[Ray]

India should have her Navy at ready with humanitarian effort on board for immediate relief activities, as she did for Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Philippines should be told that we are ready.

That would be the correct action instead of waiting for the disaster to strike.

Action, not word, speaks.

But will out Rip Van Winkle Khurshed understand the nuances of diplomacy, geopolitics and geostrategy?

Never!

 

[W.G.Ewald]

India should have her Navy at ready with humanitarian effort on board for immediate relief activities, as she did for Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Philippines should be told that we are ready.

That would be the correct action instead of waiting for the disaster to strike.

Action, not word, speaks.

But will out Rip Van Winkle Khurshed understand the nuances of diplomacy, geopolitics and geostrategy?

Never!

Sir, do you mean IN should have ships in the path of the storm?

 

[t_co]

Sir, do you mean IN should have ships in the path of the storm?

No sane captain would ever put his ship in the middle of a typhoon unless there was a damn good reason (e.g. combat) for doing so.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

No sane captain would ever put his ship in the middle of a typhoon unless there was a damn good reason (e.g. combat) for doing so.

Captain probably sane, MoD maybe not so much.

 

[t_co]

Typhoon Haiyan kills at least 1,200 in Philippines - The Times of India

TACLOBAN, Philippines: One of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall devastated the central Philippines, killing more than 1,000 people in one city alone and 200 in another province, the Red Cross estimated on Saturday, as reports of high casualties began to emerge.

A day after Typhoon Haiyan churned through the Philippine archipelago in a straight line from east to west, rescue teams struggled to reach far-flung regions, hampered by washed out roads, many choked with debris and fallen trees.

The death toll is expected to rise sharply from the fast-moving storm, whose circumference eclipsed the whole country and which late on Saturday was heading for Vietnam.

Among the hardest hit was coastal Tacloban in central Leyte province, where preliminary estimates suggest more than 1,000 people were killed, said Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross, as water surges rushed through the city.

"An estimated more than 1,000 bodies were seen floating in Tacloban as reported by our Red Cross teams," she told Reuters. "In Samar, about 200 deaths. Validation is ongoing."

 

[Free Karma]

What..how did the toll go to 1200??

 

[t_co]

What..how did the toll go to 1200??

One of the cities lost communication with Manila. When communications resumed, central authorities had to revise their death toll.

 

[jmj_overlord]

was there no early warning for the cyclone so such a toll could have been averted ?

 

[t_co]

was there no early warning for the cyclone so such a toll could have been averted ?

1. The Filipino government got 96 hours of advance warning, but only had enough transport assets to move 125,000 people out of the disaster zone.
2. The storm surge zone covered over 1/3 the country, so in many areas, there was no safe place to evacuate.
3. The storm surge was exceptionally high - eyewitnesses said water was rising above houses, to 'treetop level' - approx 6m high.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

was there no early warning for the cyclone so such a toll could have been averted ?

It's not just early warning that is required, it is having a disaster plan in place, and further, training in plan implementation so that various agencies can work with each other.

Examples:

Emergency Management and the Incident Command System - PHE

PREPAREDNESS FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE

 

[t_co]

What bothers me is why China, India, the US, Japan, et al didn't go and surge some ships to the area to get people out of the way. In a situation like that, every transportation asset helps, and the Phillippines should have enough wisdom to know when not to let its ego get in the way of a cyclone evacuation.

 

[t_co]

At least 10,000 dead in Philippines from super typhoon, official says | Reuters

 

[united THIEF kingdom]

Rip. And how much help r we sending

 

[Tolaha]

Speculations in the media that the number of casualties might be closer to 10000!

What bothers me is why China, India, the US, Japan, et al didn't go and surge some ships to the area to get people out of the way. In a situation like that, every transportation asset helps, and the Phillippines should have enough wisdom to know when not to let its ego get in the way of a cyclone evacuation.

This was a Category 5 typhoon to have hit Philippines (much worse than the one to hit Odisha [India] recently) and could probably be the worst ever typhoon! Philippines has unfortunately been hit by a number of natural disasters recently. This is the 3rd Category 5 typhoon to have hit the country since 2010. And to add to that, a few months back, an earthquake had hit these parts of the country. I am assuming that with this many natural disasters hitting the country, there might just not be enough time to rehabilitate and recover, making 'preparedness' for a new disaster, so much more tougher. Also, attached below is the map of Philippines that shows the population density spread throughout hundreds of islands. Just makes evacuation a nightmare. But if most of the country is going to get affected by the super typhoon, where do they evacuate them to? Ideally, if there was some way that these super typhoons could be predicted even before 96 hours, we could get ships and planes to evacuate the population, maybe even out of the country if required. But the difficult part being, as said before, getting all those people spread across in a country of islands, into a few spots, from where the bigger transportation assets can come into picture. Yes, its doable, but it requires governments cooperate, planned and practiced for it.

 

[Zero_Wing]

Guys let me clear something one people in the Philippines have this problem when it comes to evacuation they believe that other people will loot their homes so most did stay but most evacuated to safer area (well according to previous data from past storms) so preparations were made, supplies were check etc but to our defense this the strongest storm recorded in human history no matter what preparation you would do nothing can save you from a 200 km per hour wind that carries a lot of derby from everything from roofs to cars to anti filipino trolls out there tell me this can anyone of you can say they could have done something more? People we given fair warring.

 

[CCTV]

Only 3? What I have heard is 10000+ dead.
Official: Over 10,000 feared dead in Typhoon Haiyan

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Help is on the way to areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development and humanitarian relief groups.

The Obama administration made an initial $100,000 available Saturday to provide basic health care, clean water and sanitation following the Philippines government's request for international assistance. That figure is likely to grow as damage and humanitarian needs are assessed.

At the request of the Philippine government, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel directed U.S. Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies, according to a statement released by the Defense Department press office.

U.S. aid on the way to devastated areas of Philippines

 

[W.G.Ewald]

With the death toll from 'super' typhoon Haiyan now estimated to be well over 10,000, the Philippines government and international aid agencies are engaged in a desperate struggle to get help to increasingly angry victims of what may have been the strongest storm ever to make landfall.

Philippines President Benigno Aquino was forced to walk out of a meeting with local government officials in Tacloban City, where 10,000 people alone are feared to have perished, after furious survivors interrupted it to berate him for the authorities' slow response to the disaster.

Typhoon Haiyan: at least 10,000 dead as angry survivors berate Philippines President Benigno Aquino - Telegraph

 

[Blackwater]

Salute to India and govt which use it's tech i.e satellite and in time made arrangement of rescue on contrary of phillpines